Playing mechanism for zithers.



H. C. MARX.

PLAYING MECHANISM FOR ZITHERS. APPLICATION FILED AUG.28, 191a. RENEWED SEPT. 19. 1914.

2 SHEETSSHEET I.

Z72 2/672 7707"; 7/67273 UfiarZes'ZWar/T Patented Aug. 17, 1915.

Ma'inaaea- H. C. MARX PLAYING MECHANISM FOR ZITHERS. APPLICATION FILED AUG.2B, 1913. RENEWED SEPT. 19. 1914.

1,150,283. Patented Aug. 17, 1915.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

COLUMBIA PLANOGRAPII CO" IMHINGTON- D- C- UNITED STATES PATENT ()FFICE.

HENRY C. MARX, OF PALMER, KANSAS, ASSIGNOR TO THE PHONOHARP COMPANY, OF EAST BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, A CORPORATION OF MAINE.

PLAYING MECHANISM FOR ZITHERS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug. 17-, 1915.

Application filed August 28, 1913, Serial No. 787,155. Renewed September 19, 1914. Serial No. 862,613.

To all whom it may concern: v

Be it known that I, HENRY O. MARX, a citizen of the United States, and resident of Palmer, in the county of Washington and State of Kansas, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Playing Mechanism for Zithers, of which the following is a specification.

This invention has relation to musical instruments and playingattachments therefor, of the general character of those illustrated in my Letters Patent 1,044,553, dated November 19, 1912, and has for its object to provide certain improvements in the playing attachment for decreasing the cost of construction, increasing the durability, and securing a greater accuracy in playing.

On the accompanying drawings: Figure 1 represents a top plan view of a stringed musical. instrument provided with playing means embodying this invention. Fig. 2 represents a section through the structure intersected by line 22 of Fig. 1, showing one of the hammers depressed toward the strings. Fig. 3 represents a section, similar to Fig. 2, of the structure intersected by line 3-3 of Fig. 1. Fig. 4: represents a sec tion through the structure intersected by line 4.4. of Fig. 3. Fig. 5 shows the retaining means for the pivot rod.

The same reference characters indicate the sameparts wherever they occur.

Before describing the playing means I will describe briefly the musical instrument which is illustrated; but it is to be understood that such instrument is shown and described solely for the purpose of facilitating an understanding of the playing means and that the invention is not to be limited to the specific form of stringed instrument shown.

10 indicates a sounding board, 11 indicates a base, 13 indicates a hitch pin block which connects the sounding board and base, and 14 indicates the melody strings which are arranged to produce the tones of a diatonic scale. As shown by Fig. 1 the front of the instrument is at the bottom of the figure, and as shown by Figs. 2 and 3 the front of the instrument is at the right. A front guard 16 is aflixed to the instrument in position to cover the pins 17 by which the strings are anchored to the pinblock. This guard, as shown by Fig. 1, is secured to the pin block by screws 18 and is spaced from the pin block by filling pieces 19 so that the guard will not interfere with the pins 17.

The melody strings which are vibrated by the playing mechanism hereinafter described arearranged in pairs as shown at the right of Fig. 1. At the left of the melody strings are groups of chord strings 15 for the production of chords as an accompaniment to the tones produced by the strings.

It is to be understood that the invention is not limited to this arrangement of the strings 14: and 15, as the melody strings may be arranged for a complete chromatic scale of two or more octaves, with corresponding groups of chord strings.

The playing mechanism comprises finger keys 20 each of which is provided with a vibratory spring hammerconsisting of a spring 21 and a head 22. According to the arrangement of strings as shown, each hammer head 22 is wide enough to engage the two strings of one group. The finger keys are arranged side by side in a series upon a rod or wire 23 which constitutes the fulcrum upon which they rock and which is transverse to the strings. In Figs. 2 and 3 the finger key in the foreground is shown in its normal position, the hammer head 22 carried thereby being elevated. These fig ures also show one of the finger keys depressed to operative position, the hammer thereof being shown by solid lines in its normal position and by dotted lines at the two extremes of its vibratory movement caused by its momentum when the movement of the key is arrested. The finger keys are spaced laterally by partitions 21 which cause the several hammers to register with the desired strings 11. The partitions 21 as shown by Fig. 1 are formed upon a spacer bar 25, the bar having recesses 26 between the partitions for receiving the keys. The ends of the bar 25 are aflixed to bolsters 27 mounted upon the sounding board at the two side edges of the latter. In order to facilitate assembling the keys with the bar 25 the partitions 21 are provided with notches 28 in line with each other and into which the fulcrum rod 23 may be placed by lateral movement. The finger keys may therefore be strung upon the fulcrum rod before the latter is mounted in the partitions 24. The fulcrum rod may be confined in operative position in the notches 28 by any suitable means, such for example as filling pieces one of which is shown by Fig. 5 and designated by reference numeral 29. Two of these filling pieces are sufficient for the purpose, and they may be made of sufficient thickness to fit tightly against the confronting surfaces which form the notches, so that they will be retained by friction. 7

Each finger key is formed with a shoulder 30 which is adapted to strike the bar 25 when the front end of the key is depressed, to limit the movement of the key. when the shoulder strikes the bar, the spring hammer carried thereby vibrates as indicated in Figs. 2 and 3, and strikes a series of blows in rapid succession upon the strings 14. Each key is provided with a weight 31 whose function is to restore the key to normal position when the key is released. These weights are preferably of the same thickness as the keys, and their respective surfaces are flush with the surfaces of the keys. Each key is provided on its rear end with a damper of soft material, such as felt, for damping the vibration of the strings when the key returns to normal position. As shown by Fig. 4, each damper is of suflicient width to engage both strings of the group with which the key is in register. The weights 31 are therefore effective for causing the operation of the dampers in addition to their function of lifting the hammer heads from the wires.

The element indicated at 33 is a stop or rest for arresting the vibration of the hammers when the latter are returned to normal position. The damper 33 consists of a strip of suitable soft material, such as felt, and is carried by a holder 3a. This holder extends across and above all the melody strings, and, as shown by Fig. 1, its upper surface may bear a. musical staff and a scale of notes indicative of the tones of the strings beneath them. It may also bear the alphabetic characters of the several keys of the scale and numerals for the same purpose. The holder 34 is secured to flexible spring strips 35 which are anchored to the bar 25. The strips 35 normally support the holder 34 in the position shown by Figs. 2 and 3, but they may be flexed so as to permit the holder to move toward the strings, whereby the aggregate depth of the instrument and its playing mechanism may be reduced for storing the instrument in a box.

As shown by Figs. 2 and 3, thekeys 20 have portions 36 which extend above the bar 25 for apurpose hereinafter explained. A 'uard 37 is provided for preventing accidental interference with the weighted ends of the keys, this guard being also adapted to serve as a rest for the players hand. It is aflixed to the guard 16 by screws 38, and its free edge39 rests upon and is supported by the bar 25. The front portions 36 of the finger keys (beyond the pivot rod) are the only portions which are exposed for engagement by the fingers of the player, and the purpose in extending them above the bar 25 and above the guard 37 is to facilitate the manipulation of them.

By virtue of the construction and arrangement of parts which I have herein illustrated, I have increased the durability of instruments of the type of that illustrated, and I have also insured accuracy in operation. Each key is non-resilient and is supported upon a pivot which holds its ends against any lateral rocking movement, and this prevents the striker or head of the spring hammer from being deflected laterally and thus engaging a. string for which it is not intended. The provision of the non-resilient keys shortens the necessary length of the spring to which the hammer head is connected. As a further advantage, the hand rest serves as a guard to cover the upwardly moving rear ends of the keys.

In describing the instrument which is illustrated as one embodiment of the invention, I have employed the terms front and rear in referring to various parts of the mechanism, for the purpose of clear description. It is evident, however, that these are not terms of limitation. As employed, the term front end of the key has reference to that portion of the key which is on the same side of the pivot as the hammer, and the rear end that portion which is on the other side of the pivot.

Having thus explained the nature of my said invention and described a way of constructing and using the same, although without attempting to set forth all the forms in which it may be made or all the modes of its use, what I claim is 1. The combination with a stringed musical instrument, of a plurality of non-resilient keys, a pivot on which said keys are fulcrumed intermediate of their ends, the front ends of the keys being exposed for manipulation by a player and the rear ends overbalancing the front ends, a spring hammer extending from the front free end of eachkey, a stop above the rear free ends of the keys to arrest the upward oscillatory movement thereof and cause the vibration of the hammers against the strings, and a damper carried by the rear end of each key, and raised from the string coincidently with the depression of the corresponding hammer.

2. The combination with a stringed musical instrument, of a plurality of non-resilient keys, a pivot on which each key is fulcrumed between its ends, a spacer bar having on its under side spaces or recesses to receive the keys, said spacer bar forming a stop to be engaged by and thereby to limit the upward movement of the rear ends of the keys and cause the vibration of the hamhas..-

mers, and headed spring hammers extending from the front ends of the keys over the strings and overbalanced by the rear ends I of the keys, said hammers being depressible into operative position by the depression of the front ends of the keys.

3. The combination With a stringed musical instrument, of a series of finger keys each having a vibratory string-engaging hammer at its front endand weighted at its rear end, partitions between said keys for spacing the keys, a pivot rod on which said keys are pivoted between their ends, said rod extending through said keys and supported between said keys by said partitions, said partitions having lateral notches for the reception of said rod whereby said rod may be mounted and dismounted by lateral movement while the keys are arranged thereon.

4:. The combination with a stringed musical instrument, of a series of keys, a spring hammer attached to the front end of each key, a pivot extending transversely of the strings of said instrument on which each key is pivoted between its ends, a weight carried by the rear end of each key, a damper on the under side of the rear end of each key, and a guard covering the rear ends of all said keys, the front portions of said keys projecting beyond said guard for manipulation.

5. The combination with a stringed musical instrument, of a series of spring hammers, a spacer bar arranged transversely of the strings and having alternating spaced notches and partitions on its under side, a pivot rod supported by said partitions, a series of non-resilient keys loosely pivoted on said rod in said notches, each key having a shoulder on its rear portion for engaging the side of the bar to limit the depression of the front portion of the key, the rear end of each hammer being rigidly secured to the front end of a key, and a casing covering the rear ends of the keys and terminating in the rear of the front ends of the keys, whereby the said front ends are exposed for depression by a player to operate the hammers.

6. The combination with a stringed musical instrument, of a series of spring hammers, a bar arranged transversely of the strings, a series of hammer-actuating nonresilient pivoted keys, each notched to provide shoulders, and arranged with the shoulders on opposite sides of said bar, one of said shoulders being arranged to engage said barand limit the movement of the key.

7. The combination with a stringed musical instrument, of a pivot bar rigidly secured to said instrument and arranged transversely of the strings, a series of keys, each pivoted intermediate of its ends on said bar, a spring hammer projecting from one end of each key to engage a string or strings, a damper on the other end of each key and normally engaging said string or strings, and a stop bar arranged in the paths of movement of said keys to arrest the movement thereof, whereupon the hammer head carried thereby is caused to vibrate against the strings from which the corresponding damper is lifted.

8. The combination with a stringed musiidly secured to the front end of a key, so

that when the front end of the key is depressed and its movement is checked by the engagement of its shoulder with said bar the hammer vibrates against a string.

9. The combination with a stringed musical instrument, of a bar extending crosswise of the strings, a plurality of keys fulcrumed on said bar, one end of each key overbalancing the other end and arranged to rest upon the corresponding string or strings to damp the same, spring hammers attached to the other ends of said keys, and a stop for arresting the movement of each of the keys in consequence of which the hammer thereof is caused to vibrate against the corresponding string or strings.

10. The combination with a stringed musical instrument, of a bar extending crosswise of the strings and located between the ends of the strings, a plurality of keys fulcrumed on said barand extending longitudinally of the strings, one end of each key being heavier than the other end and normally resting on a string or strings to damp the same, a spring hammer attached to each key and held at a distance from its corresponding string or strings by the heavier end of said key, a stop for arresting the movement of the key when the lighter end thereof is moved toward the plane of the strings in consequence of which the hammer thereof is caused to vibrate, and a cover extending across the heavier ends of said keys.

11. The combination with a stringed musical instrument, of a bar extending crosswise of the strings and located between the ends of the strings, a plurality of keys fulcrumed on said bar and extending longitudinally of the strings, one end of each key being heavier than the other end and normally resting on a string or strings to damp the same, a spring hammer attached to each key and held at a distance from its corresponding string or strings by the hesivier end of said key, a stop for arresting the movement of the key when the lighter end thereof is moved toward the plane of the strings in consequence of Which the hammer thereof is caused to vibrate, and a rest arranged transwrsely of the keys, and exposing the lighter ends of said keys for manipulation.

12. The combination with a stringed Inusical instrument, of a series of pivotally HENRY C. MARX. Witnesses MARCUS B. MAY, 'A. L; FOLSOM.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by aaamsmg the Commissioner of Patents,

' Washington, D. O. s 

